Tail-light and license-tag holder



C. RINGHAIVI AND W. H. KLINGBEFIG.

TAIL LIGHT AND LICENSE TAG HOLDER.

APPLlcATloN FILED JuLY 16, |921.

L 397.33% Patented Nov. I5, 1921.

C21' wmf iugm- ,107 [fam ggf 745, INVENTOR.

A TTORNEY.

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CHRISTOPHER RINGE-AM AND WALTER H. KLINGBERG, 0F ALBERT LEA, MINNESGTA,

TAIIL-LIG-HT AND LICENSE-TAG HOLDER.

Application led July 16,

To ali whom it may concern.'

Be it known that we, CHRISTOPHER RING- HAM and WALTER H. KLINGBERG, citizens of the United States, residing at Albert Lea, in the county of Freeborn and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful improvements in a Tail-Light and License- 'ilag Holder, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an improved lamp for motor vehicles and has for its primary object to provide a lamp structure which will serve in the capacity of an ordinary tail light, and which will also provide means for properly displaying a license tag or number.

Another object is to provide a lamp of this character adapted to support a stencil plate having a license number formed therein, in such a manner that the number may be readily observed in the daytime and at night be eiiiciently displayed by being illuminated.

Another object of the invention is to! provide an arrangement whereby the translucentv plate employed -in connectionwith the tail light will be detachably mounted and means provided for securely holding said plate in position.

l@Vith these and other objects in view, the invention consists in certain novel features of construction as hereinafter shown, described and claimed.

1n the accompanying drawings:

Figure l represents afront elevation of the device constituting this invention with parts broken out and in section, a sign or license late being engaged in opera-tive position therein.

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section taken on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a, transverse detail section taken on the line 3--3 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 4 is a detail perspective view of one end of the plate and the members which hold it in operative position.

In the embodiment illustrated a vlamp housing 1 is shown, which is preferably subvWl""stantiallytriangular and includes a flat bottom 2, a. top wall 3 and end walls 4, which provide a light chamber within the housing, said housing being o en at the front thereof. As best shown in ig. 2, the vend 'walls 4 Patented Nov. 15, 1921.

1921. Serial No. 485,266.

converge toward the rear of the housing and meet as shown at 5.

The end walls 4 are provided at their front edges with forwardly extending right angularly disposed flanges 6, havin 1nturned lips 7, which operate as abutments in connection with similar lips 8 carried by the top and bottoni walls of the housing, for

the license plate and its coperating parts,

as will be hereinafter more fully described.

Arranged at the corners of the outer face of the housing and carried by the lips 7 and 8 and lying in the same plane therewith are triangular plates 9. These corner plates 9 are apertured to receive attaching screws and around Said apertures are arranged internlly threaded collars 10, shown clearly in Fig. 8.

The closure 11 for the front of the housing 1 comprises two glass plates 12 and 13 arranged in superposed relation with the license tag plate 14 clamped between them, the corners of the glass plates being cut off, as shown at 15 in Fig. 4, to adapt them to rest on the corner plates 9 of the housing and to escape the apertures for the screws 20. A front closure frame 16 composed of any suitable material, preferably of sheet metal, has side and end flanges adapted to fit over the front of the housing 1, as is shown clearly in Fig. 2, and has an inturned rightangularly disposed flange 18 extending around the inner edge thereof, between which and ange 7 of the housing, the plates l2, 13 and 14 are designed to be disposed and held in operative position.

The outer and inner plates l2 and 13 are preferably constructed of clear glass, while the license tag plate 14 is constructed of translucent glass, preferably red, to adapt it to operate as the lens of a tail light, the figures of the license being of transparent formation, so that they may be readily seen either in the daytime or at night.

The cover frame 16 is provided at the corners thereof with corner plates 19 of a shape and size corresponding to the plates 9 of the housing, and which are adapted to overlie said plates 9 when the cover is in operative position, said plates 19 being apertured for the passage therethrough of the fastening screws 20, which when threaded into the collars 10, clampingly hold the proobvious that the frame 16 which carries the cover plates 12 and 13 is detachably secured in place by the fastening screws 20 passing through the corner plates of said frame into the corner plates of the housing, whereby all danger of the plates working loose and becoming lost is avoided. Obviously the license plate 14 may be changed at will, by simply remo-ving the screws 20 and taking off the frame 16 with the plates mounted therein, separating the plates 12 and 13 and rcmoving the license tag or plate 14 from between them and inserting another. The glass plates 12 and 13 with the license tag 14 between them are then reinserted within the closure frame 16 and said frame placed over the mouth or front of the housing and secured by the screws 20.

The housing 1 may be attached to an automobile by any suitable brackets and it may be employed to hold either the front or the rear license tag.

While it is indicated that an electric lamp is preferably employed in connection with this improved tail light and license tag holder, obviously it will be seen that the construction Which is disclosed may be readil adapted for use in connection with an 011 lamp or other illuminating means.

The preferred embodiment of the invention is disclosed in the drawings and set forth in the specification, but it will be understood that any modifications within the -scope of the claimed invention may be made in the construction without departing from the principle of the invention or sacrificing any of its advantages.

` What we claim is:

A device of the class described including a housing having a light chamber with an opening in one wall' thereof, a laterally and inwardly extending flange surrounding said opening and having attaching platesarranged at intervals around said opening with threaded apertures in said plates, a closure frame adapted to fit over said opening and having an inturned laterally extending flange arranged parallel with the flange of the housing when in operative position, coperat ing attaching plates carried by said frame positioned to register with the plates on said housing, both sets of plates having registering apertures, a'nd superposed license protecting plates shaped to fit between the flanges of the housing and the frame.

In testimony whereof, we affix our signatures hereto.

CHRISTOPHER RINGHAM. WALTER H. KLINGBERG. 

